View source for USS PC-823

{{short description|PC-461-class submarine chaser}}
{{more citations needed|date=September 2024}}
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{{Use American English|date=October 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image= File:해군 백두산함 (7445948938).jpg
|Ship caption= ROKS ''Baekdusan'' with South Korean flag painted on the side of the ship's superstructure in the 1950s
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1943}}
|Ship name= ''PC-823''
|Ship builder=[[Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Company]]
|Ship laid down=8 November 1943
|Ship launched=15 January 1944
|Ship commissioned=24 July 1944
|Ship decommissioned=11 February 1946
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck=Transferred to [[United States Merchant Marine Academy]], June 1948
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship honours=
|Ship fate=
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=yes
|Ship renamed=''Ensign Whitehead''
|Ship fate=Transferred to South Korea, September 1949
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=title
|Ship country=South Korea
|Ship flag={{Shipboxflag|South Korea|1949}}
|Ship name= ''Pak Tu San'' 
|Ship acquired=17 October 1949
|Ship commissioned=26 December 1949
|Ship identification= [[Hull number]]: PC-701
|Ship decommissioned=21 August 1960
|Ship namesake= [[Paektu Mountain]]
|Ship struck=
|Ship notes=Mast preserved at Republic of Korea Navy Academy
|Ship fate=Presumed [[Ship breaking|scrapped]]
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class=PC-461
|Ship displacement=280 tons
|Ship length={{convert|173|ft|8|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|23|ft|0|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught=
|Ship draft={{convert|10|ft|10|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=
|Ship speed=20 knots
|Ship range=
|Ship complement=65
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=*1 × [[3"/50 caliber gun|{{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on}}/50 cal]]
*6 × [[M2 Browning|.50 caliber machine gun]]s <ref name="How a Lone $60,000 Patrol Boat and Its Single Deck Gun Changed the Course of the Korean War">{{cite web |url= https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/how-lone-60000-patrol-boat-and-its-single-deck-gun-changed-course-korean-war-78871|title = How a Lone $60,000 Patrol Boat and Its Single Deck Gun Changed the Course of the Korean War
|date = 7 September 2019
|publisher= The National Interest |access-date= 19 October 2020}}</ref>
*4 × [[depth charge]] throwers
*2 × depth charge tracks
*2 x depth charge projector ([[Mousetrap (weapon)|Mousetrap]]).
|Ship armour=
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}}
|}

'''USS ''PC-823''''' [[PC-461-class submarine chaser]] laid down on 2 June 1943 at the [[Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Company]] in [[Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin]]; launched on 15 January 1944; and commissioned on 24 July 1944.

''PC-823'' served in the western [[Atlantic Ocean]] during [[World War II]], being assigned to air-sea rescue duties during at least some of that time. On 11 February 1946, PC-823 decommissioned and transferred to the [[United States Maritime Commission]]. She was transferred to the [[United States Merchant Marine Academy]] at [[Kings Point, New York]] on 18 May 1948, and renamed '''''Ensign Whitehead''''' as a training ship. Her name was struck from the [[Navy List]] in June 1948.

In September 1949, she was transferred to the [[Republic of Korea Navy]] and renamed '''ROKS ''Pak Tu San''''', (PC-701), and played a major part in the [[Battle of Korea Strait]], the small naval battle fought on the first day of the [[Korean War]] in June 1950. The remains of her mast are kept in the South Korean naval academy.

==Acquisition by South Korea==
[[File:Pak Tu San (PC-701).jpg|left|thumb|''Pak Tu San'' was pending in the harbor on 17 March 1950]]
Upon its establishment on 11 November 1945, the [[Republic of Korea Navy|South Korean navy]] (ROKN) had only [[LCVP (United States)|LCVPs]] and light wooden patrol ships at its disposal. The ROKN's first Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral [[Sohn Won-yil]], emphasized the necessity of acquiring a new naval vessel.{{elaborate|date=September 2024}} However, as the South Korean government could not provide either the natural resources or economic means available to purchase new ships, the ROKN decided on an independent purchase of a new vessel and organized the "Vessel Construction Finance Committee"({{Korean|hangul=함정건조 각출위원회|labels=no}}) in June 1949. From top officers to cadets, ROKN servicemen invested 5%~10% of their salaries to fund the purchase, with some midshipmen and their wives selling scrap metal and taking in laundry and sewing. After four months, the ROKN managed to raise $15,000. The South Korean government provided an additional $45,000 upon hearing of the ROKN's efforts, summing for a total of $60,000.

On 17 October 1949, South Korea acquired the '' Ensign Whitehead'' (the former ''USS PC-823''), then a training ship of the [[United States Merchant Marine Academy]]. Upon its purchase, the ship was initially in such a poor condition that it had to go through two months of repairs by fifteen naval officers. On 26 December 1949 in New York, the '' Ensign Whitehead'' was launched and christened as the ROKS ''Pak Tu San'' (PC-701),<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/rok/roksh-mr/paktusn.htm|title=ROK Navy Ships: ''Pak Tu San'' (PC-701, 1950–60)|date=17 October 1999|publisher=Naval History & Heritage Command|access-date=20 November 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101205014303/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/rok/roksh-mr/paktusn.htm| archive-date= 5 December 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> the ROKN's first ocean-going vessel. Sailing from New York, a 3-inch main deck gun was attached at the [[Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard]],<ref name=":0" /> and 100 shells were purchased at Guam. PC-701 finally arrived at [[Jinhae Naval Base]], [[South Korea]], on 10 April 1950, barely two months before the June 1950 outbreak of the [[Korean War]].

==Deployment==
{{main|Battle of Korea Strait}}
On the night of 25 June 1950, the ''Pak Tu San'''s crew spotted an unidentified ship on the South Korean eastern coast, about twenty miles from the key port of [[Busan]], during a patrol mission. The PC-701 challenged the ship using signal lights, but receiving no response, turned its searchlight on the intruder. The light revealed a 1,000 ton freighter with an estimated six hundred to one thousand soldiers crowded on her decks. Heavy machine guns were mounted aft on the freighter with which the freighter crew opened fire on the PC-701. The gunfire struck her bridge, killing the helmsman and seriously wounding an officer on the deck. She returned fire and engaged in a running duel with the freighter. According to veterans of the PC-701, to increase the accuracy and penetration, PC-701 closed to within 400 meters of the freighter. The sailors had to use their M1 Garands to prevent North Korean soldiers from swimming to the PC-701. The freighter was sunk between [[Busan]] and [[Tsushima Island]]. This action, which would later become known as the [[Battle of Korea Strait]], was the first naval engagement of the ROKN. 

After [[Battle of Korea Strait]], the ROKS ''Pak Tu San'' saw combat during various other battles of the Korean War, such as the [[Incheon Landings|Incheon Landing]].<ref>{{Cite web |author=배진영 |date=2017-03-02 |title=제2차 인천상륙작전을 아십니까? |url=http://m.monthly.chosun.com/client/news/viw.asp?ctcd=&nNewsNumb=201703100053 |access-date=2022-05-29 |website=[[Monthly Chosun]]|language=ko}}</ref>

After the war, the ROKS ''Pak Tu San'' retired on 1 July 1959, and was subsequently dismantled.<ref>{{Cite web |title=부산 남구신문 |url=https://www.bsnamgu.go.kr/board/view.namgu?boardId=BBS_0000088&menuCd=DOM_000000114001000000&startPage=62&dataSid=50818 |access-date=2022-05-29 |website=www.bsnamgu.go.kr}}</ref>

Except for the fortuitous position of the PC-701 and the fighting qualities of the craft's crew, the North Korean soldiers might have successfully landed at the vital port of [[Busan]]. The poor state of combat readiness at the port could easily have led to its loss. In such an event, not even the small toehold of Busan would have remained to support the U.N. counteroffensive in Korea. This single naval action may well have prevented the fall of South Korea.<ref name="How a Lone $60,000 Patrol Boat and Its Single Deck Gun Changed the Course of the Korean War"/>

Her mast is preserved at Republic of Korea Navy Academy.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Photo |url=http://img.yonhapnews.co.kr/photo/yna/YH/2010/02/01/PYH2010020106380005200_P2.jpg |website=img.yonhapnews.co.kr}}</ref>

==Gallery==
{{Gallery
|noborder=yes
|File:RoK Navy ship Bak Du San-3 Protestant Minister.tif
 |A Protestant minister delivers blessings on the newly-christened Pak Tu San.
|File:RoK Navy ship Bak Du San-10 Fantail.tif
 |Fantail of the Pak Tu San the day the ship transferred from the USN to the RoK Navy in 1949.
|File:RoK Navy ship Bak Du San-1 Raising Ensign.tif
 |Korean naval officers raising a flag on the ship Pak Tu San at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, 1949
}}

==Further reading==
*[http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/010823.htm NavSource Online:Submarine Chaser Photo Archive PC-823]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/010823.htm Photo gallery] at navsource.org

{{PC-461 class submarine chaser|2}}
{{Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Company ships}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pc-823}}
[[Category:World War II naval ships of the United States]]
[[Category:PC-461-class submarine chasers]]
[[Category:1944 ships]]
[[Category:Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the Republic of Korea Navy]]